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Porsche celebrates GT racing

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The Porsche Museum in Stuttgart has opened an exhibition on Gran Turismo Motoring. From 29 June to 25 July 2010 visitors to the museum are able to admire the Porsche 911 GT1 (996 model series), the 911 GT2 (997 series), and the 911 GT3 RS (997 series) at this event.

All three of these racing cars share the term ‘GT’ but what exactly lurks behind this abbreviation of the Italian term Gran Turismo? Originally these two letters stood for the concept of ‘Grand Motoring’, since GT cars used to be relatively comfortable sports cars for long-distance racing.

The exhibition boasts production cars particularly well-suited for the race track; the 450-horsepower Porsche 911 GT3 RS finishing in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring only a few weeks ago an excellent 13th. The Porsche 911 GT1, delivering a supreme 600 horsepower, was built for Porsche’s participation in the GT1 class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1996. And proudly presenting the Porsche 911 GT2, finally, the Museum is making the visitor acquainted with the most powerful street-legal Porsche 911 available so far. So building these GT cars, the Company has consistently continued its policy to offer the customer competitive models for broad-scale racing and customer motorsport.

With GT racing being closely related in technical terms to the production of street-legal models, Porsche focused on GT activities from the start as a test lab for series development. The Type 356 A 1500 Carrera GT launched in 1956, for example, is Porsche’s first sports car bearing this characteristic abbreviation soon to hit the headlines on race tracks the world over. Further outstanding GT models are the Porsche 356 Carrera GTL Abarth and the 904 Carrera GTS presented to visitors in a permanent exhibition at the Museum.